The technological areas of biometrics and smart cards have overlapped for many years now, most notably in the domain of access control, where multiple access terminals and kiosks have supported both biometric and smart card-based authentication.
For biometrics players, this shift has been driven by a couple of factors. Fingerprint sensor makers enjoyed a booming market in the area of smartphones in the few years following Apple’s launch of the first iPhone featuring Touch ID in 2013 – a game-changing development that sparked the mobile biometrics revolution. But this market has become much more crowded in recent years, with Average Selling Prices for biometric sensor suppliers dropping. That has prompted the leading fingerprint sensor suppliers to look for new application areas, including in the financial services sector.
Sthaler worked with music festival industry to develop a cashless, card-free payment system that was available to everyone. The company developed Fingopay, using VeinID technology, in partnership with Hitachi. Blue Star Capital PLC (LON:BLU) is an investing company with a focus on new technologies. Blue Star’s investments include a 0.9% holding in Sthaler.